


Love's Hallowed Temple

by TerraCrystallis



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms, A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Game of Thrones Spoilers, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 02:48:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18730186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TerraCrystallis/pseuds/TerraCrystallis
Summary: Takes place after Game of Thrones S08E04. Jaime Lannister & Brienne of Tarth have a complicated relationship heightened by a war that left the two Oathkeepers with no choice but to defend the realm side by side. A short, character-driven piece (light NSFW.) [Game of Thrones Spoilers]





	Love's Hallowed Temple

“Oh. Lad- or rather, I should say, Ser Brienne.”

Brienne slowly turned her neck. Sansa stood there, her long head of hair forcing Brienne to remind herself again that she was more than just her Mother’s ghost.

“My lady,” Brienne said, about to push out from the bench that spanned half of the hall, but Sansa hurried to her side. Both of them paused.

Shifting to be seated properly again, the wooden spoon in Brienne’s hand clinked hollowly against the side of her bowl. The broth was still warm. She hadn’t sipped from it yet.

“Is something wrong? Where is…” Sansa’s bright blue gaze wandered the hall, but it was just the two of them. “What happened to Ser Jaime?”

What…happened? Yesterday, Brienne had been happy to see them both breathing. What had happened was more than any battle she could’ve fathomed in her worst nightmares. What had happened, she had been thankful to come out of alive, let alone with her vision; the air in her lungs, and a hoarse, but present, voice. After using every weak bone and muscle in her body for hours on end to fend off fiends that threatened Winterfell and all that lay beyond it, you would think one would feel alive.

The things that had made Brienne feel alive, even as memories, were few. Being tossed into a ring with a savage bear, and defending herself, shed of her armor and blade; that had made her feel alive. Riding into battle to save the woman she had sworn her life’s oath to - that had made her feel alive. The tears that sprung from her, lungs gasping for breath, as she felt the pain, of true loss and failure all at once when Renly was taken from her- that had made her feel alive for it had been so terribly sudden.

What she had felt the night before - things that made her feel alive, would’ve been unspeakable before the sun went down. His fingers moving rapidly over her breasts…his gaze not leaving hers for as long as he stayed inside her; almost like lovers who had earned it. Their warmth, together, mixing for the first time, although on so many occasions, she had thought there no better way to handle him than to cut him down and make him shut up once and for all. Well– maybe, then, she’d been far wiser. Maybe by now, she wouldn’t have been so _stupid_ as to believe that the rush of being alive served any other purpose than to keep her that way.

Time could carry on, a man or woman feeling alive, or dead; to the Gods, truth and love made no difference. To them, that space was emptiness. Anything that wasn’t the living only wanted to count down the seconds until Brienne’s death, and his, too. How absurd of a thought? Time, it would count down, until Jaime would reach his sister - until his steps would lead him to a room within which awaited a cold throne, and a cold, cruel _bitch._ That hall had withered any chance for him to grow his own reputation, and made Jaime out to be someone he'd never wished himself to be, nor ever would be. He couldn't find himself capable of sinking back into the man that he'd tried to convince her was truly him. 

“Lady Sansa…would it be worth either of our time, if I told you?”

As the Lady of Winterfell looked at her, puzzled, Brienne pulled away from the bench to stand. She inhaled through her nose, feeling rather embarrassed and exposed, but her gaze remained pointed at Sansa as if fulfilling any duty that she had in her service. “My Lady - I could tell you whatever you wanted to hear. I’m afraid that if I explained all of that, it would be a waste of all the seconds that I could - if you would allow me, follow that inane Lannister, until I’m absolutely certain I’ve done everything in my power… to show that man that he deserves everything _we_ have. That he doesn’t _need_ anyone who takes part in the ruling of that _poisonous_ Kingdom.”

__

__

Even with her shoulders shaking inside her armor, and Sansa wasn’t a blind woman; she saw Brienne’s tears - Brienne didn’t care. They were past that; they'd been through too much together.

“Do you love him?”

Brienne blinked in hopes that it might lessen the tears, and of course - it didn’t.

“I do.”

“Why?” Lady Sansa asked with a gentle upwards tug of her brow.

“I love him, because…” Brienne looked up to the ceiling and smiled as large as she had the moment the weight of Jaime’s blade was lifted from her shoulder and she’d suddenly risen a Knight. “I see inside that man, something that our world never will. I know things about him that…Jaime harbors too much pride to even consider telling someone else and hope someone else might take him seriously.”

“I see. I won’t stop you. I may not have never felt a love like that…but, the ones that are left, are the only ones that I will ever have, from now on. You’re one of my people. You’re as important to me, I assume, as he is to you…” Sansa took up Brienne’s large hands in her small, gloved ones. “…and that’s why, I would never keep you.”

**Author's Note:**

> o/ Thank you for reading; I hope you enjoyed. I knew I would do a piece between these two before the show was over, just didn't know when I would get a strong inkling. I was really feeling for my girl this episode. Cheers and enjoy the last 2 weeks, xx.
> 
> Tumblr:  
> http://mirrormyheart.tumblr.com


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